# How to keep cigars in good shape, without AC



## lord1234 (Aug 8, 2007)

I live in New England, where cigars are plentiful, and it doesn't often get that hot, but there are probably 70-90 days a year where the temp breaks 75. I don't have a Central Air system at home, and want to keep my cigars in good shape. Can anyone provide a suggestion?


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## mikemets (Apr 11, 2011)

small window A/C for that room?


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## lord1234 (Aug 8, 2007)

mikemets said:


> small window A/C for that room?


I'm trying to avoid this route if possible.


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

Basement? Floor of a dark closet in the center of house (furthest away from areas with sun that heat up quickest)?


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## lord1234 (Aug 8, 2007)

David_ESM said:


> Basement? Floor of a dark closet in the center of house (furthest away from areas with sun that heat up quickest)?


This seems like the best option to me, but I'm still worried, what if that gets too warm...


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

lord1234 said:


> This seems like the best option to me, but I'm still worried, what if that gets too warm...


Put everything into a large cooler with an ice pack to help keep the temp down.


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## Snagged (Aug 20, 2010)

Freeze everything for 3 or 4 days before you put it in your humidor. Then don't worry about it.


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## NoShhhSherlock (Mar 30, 2011)

David_ESM said:


> Put everything into a large cooler with an ice pack to help keep the temp down.


I agree. Maybe set up a coolidor, and when the heat gets too hot you can throw one of those hard plastic Ice packs in there with a towel wrapped around it.


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## hoosiers2006 (Nov 23, 2010)

Smoke em all before it gets hot!:smoke:

Or do what everyone else is suggesting.


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## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Basement, closet or freeze them all before dumping in the cooler.


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## Pipedreamz (Feb 4, 2011)

Cooler and an ice packs seems lime a bad idea to me. The ice pack would emit lots of condensation as it slowly thaws,'right?


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

Pipedreamz said:


> Cooler and an ice packs seems lime a bad idea to me. The ice pack would emit lots of condensation as it slowly thaws,'right?


Wrap it in a towel and throw some kitty litter in there.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

I can see more threads starting because of the warmer weather coming and this question always seems to gather momentum. High temps are not good as we all know and high RH is equally not good so what is our recourse? Coolidors do work well and I keep one in my garage with an ice pak wrapped in a towel inside a ziploc in the lid and it doesn't touch any of my cigars. I have a pound of beads in there and I check it every few days...just a quick open and shut to see if I should change out the ice block and for a year now in Atlanta Summer Heat my coolidor is self sustaining at around 65% give or take a point or two. There is not condensation at all and I average exchanging the ice pak maybe once every week or two depending on weather.

There are portable AC units on the market that you can set up with timers and are very energy efficient and setting your temp at 75 as I do in my house works very well. My RH stays in line with my temps and in 5 years I've yet to experience a "hiccup" in how things work.


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## FWTX (Feb 9, 2011)

+1 for the cooler
+1 place the cooler in the coolest part of the house - a central closed closet, in basement if you have

The temp inside that cooler is not going to swing with the outside ambient temperature - it will stay near the average inside temperature of a 24 hour period.

I live in an older house without central air - the temperature and humidity are all over the place - but I'm blessed with a job that allows me to keep my stash at work in a nice air conditioned office area - and I have a little humi at home that I shuttle sticks to.


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

FWTX said:


> I live in an older house without central air - the temperature and humidity are all over the place.


That is my setup.

We have one window swamp cooler that is fairly effective since the house is only around 900 sq ft. But even with that running, we will frequently go over 70 inside during the summer. Thankfully I have a disconnected cellar. Have to go out into the backyard in order to enter it, but it is much cooler in there in the summer then the house.


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## StogieNinja (Jul 29, 2009)

Wineador! Right?


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## jimbo1 (Aug 18, 2010)

Freeze em all.......no worries then...


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## miket156 (Feb 2, 2011)

lord1234 said:


> I live in New England, where cigars are plentiful, and it doesn't often get that hot, but there are probably 70-90 days a year where the temp breaks 75. I don't have a Central Air system at home, and want to keep my cigars in good shape. Can anyone provide a suggestion?


If you have a job and your own desk or cubicle, you can bring a container of cigars to the office where I'm sure there IS AC, even in NE.

I live in Central PA, I don't have AC at home, and I don't want to freeze all my cigars either. I put the stock of my cigars that I did not freeze into a rubbermaid container and took them to the office where there is AC. I put a humidor brick in the container and rotate them every three of four days. I take the cigars on the bottom and put them on top, etc. That way they get moisture evenly. So far so good. :neutral:

Cheers,

Mike T.


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## bc8436 (Feb 12, 2011)

A wineador might be your best bet.


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## choinga (Aug 11, 2010)

I live in TX and have kept my cigars in a windowless room in my house for several years now in various humidors...most recently an end-table humidor that in the summer, stays at about 71-74 degrees and in the winter months will drop down to the high 60's. I have NEVER had a problem with any of my cigars...I have never froze a cigar...no beetle issues (knock on wood), and have never had any issues with the way any of my cigars have smoked...and I keep all kinds...from $3 stoges to $50+ Cohiba Behike's.

My humidity levels fluctuate from 65-68%. I use a couple cups of beads.

If you have the ability and want to take the time/effort to do a wineador or something like that - then more power to you. If you want to age a bunch of cigars, then perhaps consistent cooler temps are ideal. That said, no one will convince me that you have to do this to keep your cigars in excellent shape. 

Just my .02. I know a lot of folks have a bunch of $$ invested in their cigars...I easily have around $2k worth in my humidor. It's fun to obsess over them, but I think for the most part we over do the whole temp/humidity thing. I see posts all the time where people are freaking out over 1 or 2 degrees or few percent change in humidity. 

I only got 'serious' about this in the last year or so - prior to that, I had the traditional humi's and hardly paying attention to the temps and just keeping the sponges wet. I still never had any problems. The point of this site is to share our obsession - some folks certainly do that...obsess. I love my stoges, I love smoking them and I certainly don't want to ruin them - but based on my own personal experience, I'm not buying a lot of the hype around the micro management of temp/humidity.

I like an earlier answer best though...'just smoke em all now!'


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## lord1234 (Aug 8, 2007)

bc8436 said:


> A wineador might be your best bet.


This is possible, as I do have a wine fridge. Would I be able to use the wine fridge as both a wine fridge and humidor? I can't seem to find a "Step by step" guide on converting these. How much electricity do they generally pull? Also, what brand kitty litter is best? Something I could preferrably find at Petco/Petsmart....


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## miket156 (Feb 2, 2011)

choinga said:


> I live in TX and have kept my cigars in a windowless room in my house for several years now in various humidors...most recently an end-table humidor that in the summer, stays at about 71-74 degrees and in the winter months will drop down to the high 60's. I have NEVER had a problem with any of my cigars...I have never froze a cigar...no beetle issues (knock on wood), and have never had any issues with the way any of my cigars have smoked...and I keep all kinds...from $3 stoges to $50+ Cohiba Behike's.
> 
> My humidity levels fluctuate from 65-68%. I use a couple cups of beads.
> 
> ...


I agree. Sometimes BOTL get bent out of shape over small changes in temperature and RH. If you live in Texas and are able to maintain your stash in the range you listed, you're good to go.

I'm not so fortunate to have a stable temperature in my house year-round because I don't have AC and no basement. It gets hot and humid in PA during the summer. Our summer is short compared to a lot of other places in the US, so its easier to deal with than living in Florida without AC. That wouldn't work. :brick:

Cheers,

Mike T.


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## ProbateGeek (Oct 13, 2010)

Cigary said:


> I can see more threads starting because of the warmer weather coming and this question always seems to gather momentum. High temps are not good as we all know and high RH is equally not good so what is our recourse? Coolidors do work well and I keep one in my garage with an ice pak wrapped in a towel inside a ziploc in the lid and it doesn't touch any of my cigars. I have a pound of beads in there and I check it every few days...just a quick open and shut to see if I should change out the ice block and for a year now in Atlanta Summer Heat my coolidor is self sustaining at around 65% give or take a point or two. There is not condensation at all and I average exchanging the ice pak maybe once every week or two depending on weather. . .


Thanks, Gary. I needed this.


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## CaptainBlenderman (Sep 3, 2010)

ProbateGeek said:


> Thanks, Gary. I needed this.


Indeed...appreciate that, Gary...I just got my coolerdor (coolerdor? coolidor? whatever...) up and running a couple of months ago and it's been keeping things rock solid. We do have AC though so I'm not quite as concerned on that front, however we do set it pretty high to save on the electric bill, we just close up the house in the warmer months and it consistently keeps about 10 degrees cooler inside. I've been contemplating a way to keep things cool in the cooler in the higher temps without condensation so this is a good tip.

I'm working towards getting our basement fixed up a bit; especially to get a dehumidifier that doesn't freeze up. Once I do that, I can keep the humidity managed and will likely clean up an old refrigerator I have down there and use it as a humidor; then I'll have both humidity and temp issues managed year round. I'll just need to line it with some Spanish cedar (and shelves) and get a mess of kitty litter in it. That is a vision towards ultimately converting an old workshop I have down there to a man cave...but that is thinking WAAAAAAAAY ahead...


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## ProbateGeek (Oct 13, 2010)

My cooler, also, has been extremely steady at 68-70% RH since late December. I think as my house warms up (no AC) I will put a couple of these in the cooler, perhaps placed in a large ziploc. This is the Weekender Pack, measuring 7" x 6.75" x 1.63".

Anyone tried these before? Can be purchased very cheaply, probably under $3 each.


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

lord1234 said:


> This is possible, as I do have a wine fridge. Would I be able to use the wine fridge as both a wine fridge and humidor? I can't seem to find a "Step by step" guide on converting these. How much electricity do they generally pull? Also, what brand kitty litter is best? Something I could preferrably find at Petco/Petsmart....


 Since you already have a wine cooler, you should know how much they "pull"
A ton has recently been written on this subject...I would do some reading...or not..


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

ProbateGeek said:


> This is the Weekender Pack, measuring 7" x 6.75" x 1.63".Anyone tried these before? Can be purchased very cheaply, probably under $3 each.


The thicker the ice pack the longer it will last. That one seems like it would work just fine, especially for $3.


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## ProbateGeek (Oct 13, 2010)

David_ESM said:


> The thicker the ice pack the longer it will last. That one seems like it would work just fine, especially for $3.


That's what I'm thinking, too - most definitely will be the coolest place in the house. We've got a black roof with expansive southern and western exposures, so the place gets in the 90's in some parts of the house.

I wonder about condensation with these things - towel? Ziploc? Towel and ziploc both?


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## David_ESM (May 11, 2011)

ProbateGeek said:


> Towel and ziploc both?


 Yes.


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## asmartbull (Aug 16, 2009)

Looks like you got your answer on 5/15
http://www.cigarforums.net/forums/v...s/290667-humidor-inside-wine-fridge-65-a.html


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